ABBEVILLE — The Vermilion Parish School Board president at the center of a controversy surrounding the arrest of a teacher at a board meeting has announced his resignation from the board Friday.

Anthony Fontana announced his resignation from the VPSB in a letter to the Abbeville Meridional. 

“When I was re-elected three years ago for my sixth time, my goal was that this would be my last term. That is why I announced last year that I would not seek re-election in 2018,” Fontana said in the letter. “However, over the course of the last two years many things have occurred that made me think long and hard about resigning my seat.”

Fontano doesn’t specifically mention in the letter the incident with middle school English teacher Deyshia Hargrave. On Jan. 8, Hargrave was at a VPSB meeting and complained to the board about the superintendent’s pay raise and a lack of pay for teachers. 

Hargrave was ejected from the meeting by a city marshal and arrested after complaining to the board about a raise for Vermilion Parish Superintendent of Schools Jerome Puyau. While Hargrave was talking, Fontana ruled her out of order, which was followed by her ejection.

Hargrave was arrested, but no charges were sought by the city prosecutor. 

Fontana said in the letter his main objective as VPSB president has been to renew a contract with the superintendent. With that accomplished, Fontana said he is comfortable resigning. 

“I made a promise to several board members and to our system that I would stay in office until the superintendent received a contract,” Fontana said. “I kept my promise. I cannot thank the people of District E enough for the great privilege that you gave me to represent you for so many years.”

The VPSB has a board meeting Tuesday, which is expected to be Fontana’s last meeting, according to the Meridional. 

Attempts to reach Vermilion Parish School Board member Chris Hebert, who represents the Erath area, District H, were unsuccessful before deadline Saturday night.